Silent Screams
by SaySay
Summary: A killer is on the loose, and Kagome is found dead. A grieving Inuyasha desparately searches for the shards to wish her back, while a very much alive Kagome tries to escape her kidnappers with the help of a mysterious woman with a deadly secret
1. Lying Through Your Teeth

A/N: Hello everyone! It's SaySay here! And welcome to my story! Reviews are most welcome, drop a note, just one little word will do.

Disclaimer: Oh, me? Own Inuyasha? (Sarcastically) However did you know? Yes, I own Inuyasha! I also own all of France! I own McDonald's! I own the Australian continent! I invented toast, glue, and clothespins! And I have a patent on the color green! Do I own Inuyasha, you ask? And here's my question. Are you out of you mucking find? Oh, yeah, a sixteen-year-old American owns a Japanese anime/manga thingy. No, I don't thank you very much!

(_Note: No offense to any French people or Australians._)

**Silent Screams**

_Lying Throuh Your Teeth_

She sighed as she lowered herself into the steaming water, the warmth caressing her aching muscles. It had been so long since she had the luxury of a hot bath, and in an actual bathtub, without the fear of someone peaking at her nakedness. She shifted, and sank further down into the water. Her ears and nose peaked just above the water's surface. She situated herself comfortably, closed her eyes, and listened.

It was rather odd, she noted, that if your head was under water, you could hear sounds much better than if it was out. Voices were still distorted, but the smallest knock against the tub's wall was multiplied under water, when it doesn't sound quite as loud as when her ears had been above the water. And with this in mind, the girl could hear the clanging of pots and pans down below her as her mother made dinner, better than she could before, and she could almost make out the familiar tune of the video game that she knew her brother was playing, since he rarely did little else.

A long, relaxing bath had become somewhat of a tradition each and every time she returned home from her long and tedious quest. And as most people tend to do when they are quite alone with nothing to do, she thought, but she didn't think about anything in particular. She wondered if the new shampoo her mother had bought smelled as good as the shampoo before it. She wondered what her mother was cooking that smelled so delicious. She wondered if she had clean underwear in her top drawer, or if she had taken it all with her when she had last left the week before. She wondered what day it was because in her drowsy state, she couldn't seem to remember.

And as different thoughts came slower and slower, her thoughts become nonsense thoughts, more like mental images and phantom feelings than anything else. The twitching ears, a hint of red, a stolen moment, a fiery touch, was what she sensed. In her hazy state, she glimpsed something more substantial with her mind's eye. A pair of deep golden eyes, ones she so loved, gazing at her with sorrow, confusion, and something else. And at last, feelings of foreboding, so strong as to make her subconsciously frown with anxiety. She finally succumbed to her weariness, and slept.

_Knock Knock Knock_

She was aroused from her sleep by an incessant knocking. She did not move, nor open her eyes, and ignored the annoying sound. Alas, it came again.

Kagome groaned in frustration. She didn't want to wake, and she was too tired to deal with those two right now. Why couldn't they just leave each other alone for ten minutes? Really, you'd think he would have learned not to be so violent with the kit, since it only ended in pain for him. She could hear him hitting the poor kit on the head, and fox cub was calling out to her to save him from the big, bad hanyou.

"Kagome?"

"Inuyasha," she mumbled, "stop hitting Shippou."

The sound of Shippou's head being rammed into the ground by an irritated hanyou persisted, and Shippou called out once again.

"Kagome?"

Try as she might, she couldn't fall back into her blissful dreams of golden moons, silver skys, and red deserts, however odd that was, while those two kept at it. Kagome made a frustrated noise in the back of her throat, and said, louder this time, "Inuyasha! Sit!"

Sure that this would end the problem, and allow Kagome to return to her sleep, Kagome let a contented sigh escape her lips, and turned over to snuggle deeper in her sleeping bag, and she promptly inhaled the lukewarm water she was submerged in. Coming awake immediately, she sat up in her bath, and began to cough violently. The knocking came once again, this time with her mother's worried voice accompanying it.

"Kagome! Honey, are you okay?" asked her mother. Kagome nodded, and then realized her mother could not see through bathroom doors. "Yea-" Kagome broke off as she coughed once again. "Yeah, I'm okay Mama. I just fell asleep in the bathtub again."

"Okay sweetie, just try and be more careful next time. You know what happened to your great uncle Hitoshi. The poor man fell asleep in his bathtub too, but he wasn't as lucky as to wake up again."

Kagome blinked. "I thought he died in a boating accident?"

Silence met this question, and then, "Well, he could just as easily have drowned in his bathtub, now get out and come on down. Dinner's ready."

Kagome just rolled her eyes at her mother's response, typical. She pulled the cork to drain the water, and grabbed a nearby hanging towel. Once she had the towel firmly wrapped around her body, Kagome unlocked the bathroom door, and crossed the hall into her room. She shut her door and locked it, as her brother Souta seemed to have a tendency of walking into her room unannounced, and at the worst of moments. She dropped the towel.

She gingerly prodded the large bruise on her left side and on her arm that she had gotten from the bear demon that had attacked their group yesterday. It had come so unexpectedly, even with the warning of Inuyasha's, and Kagome couldn't get out of the way of the rampaging bear as fast as she had wanted.

The force of the blow was so heavy that it had knocked her unto the ground unconscious. She had woken up later in Kaede's hut, unsurprisingly with a tremendous headache and sore body. That was when she had decided that she would go home for a good couple of days to rest. She was still rather disappointed that they didn't even get a shard out of the ordeal, as the bear had none but sought theirs.

Inuyasha, also unsurprisingly, had badgered her about her weak fighting skills, lack of sense, and complained about her going home, as usual. A few sits later, and Kagome was through the well and halfway up the stair to the bathroom.

Kagome closed her eyes with a yawn as she stretched her arms up high, while arching her back to help loosen her angry muscles. She reveled in the cool air on her warmed skin. She let her arms fall limply to her side, and opened her eyes, ready to find out if she had clean underwear in her top drawer or not. What she didn't expect to see was a wide-eyed, open-mouthed hanyou sitting on the branch right outside her bedroom window.

With a shrill scream of surprise, Kagome had her towel firmly wrapped around herself once again. She turned to Inuyasha, who had just realized how far away the ground really was from where he was currently crouching, and yelled, "SIT!"

She hurriedly shut the blinds, made a mental note to always do this _before_ she got undressed or after a bath, and dropped her towel once again. Humming a little ditty happily to herself, Kagome was thrilled to find that she did in fact have two pairs of underwear left. She could distantly hear Inuyasha's curses from down below her window, and that just made her smile all the more wider. She secretly took joy in agitating the hanyou.

The joy she was feeling immediately vanished when she discovered that the white underwear she wanted to wear had a large rip in it, and the only other pair she had was the black, lacy thong her friends had given her on her seventeenth birthday.

Kagome had never even entertained the thought of wearing a thong, what with all of her traveling to the past, blood thirsty demons attacking her every so often, and Miroku's wandering hands. Not to mention that the idea of wearing a thong seemed rather uncomfortable to Kagome, who had worn just plain old white panties since forever.

But when her friends had decided that Kagome needed a bit of spice in her allegedly dull life, they had each given her something a little . . . different for her birthday. Ayume had given her the thong, Yuka had given her the matching bra (which Kagome had gladly stuffed to the back of her drawer along with the thong), and Eri had given her, well, the mere thought of it made Kagome blush ten different shades of red. Kagome had taken _that_ and hidden it under her mattress. She just prayed that her mother, or anybody for that matter, never finds it. That would be extremely embarrassing, and rather hard to explain too.

Kagome held them up in front of her with a disgusted look marring her usually pleasant features. "Oh Kami, this is just not my week."

If there was one thing that Mrs. Higurashi prided herself on, it was her cooking. And if there was one thing that made her happier besides her family and her soap operas, it was the people who loved her cooking. So when she heard a large crash outside the kitchen window, she immediately knew who had just "fallen" from the tree, and she also knew that it was a most opportune time to invite Inuyasha to dinner.

Mrs. Higurashi opened the kitchen window and called out to Inuyasha. "Come in and have dinner with us Inuyasha. I've made your favorite. Ramen!" she told Inuyasha, interrupting his violent, though dirt muffled cursing.

Inuyasha looked up from the crater he had created in front of the tree. "Did you just say ramen?" he asked hopefully. Mrs. Higurashi smiled and nodded. The look that crossed his face could only be described as the look the little boy who stuck his hand in the cookie jar, and didn't get caught, must have worn.

"Sure."

"What's for din-" Kagome stopped as she walked into the kitchen and spied Inuyasha slurping up ramen at an alarming speed. "Oh, ramen," she said dully as she, mindful of the extensive bruising she recently acquired, carefully sat down next to Inuyasha. Her mother set a bowl down in front of her.

"Thanks Kaa-san."

Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her daughter as she went and got her own bowl. Kagome rolled her eyes at Inuyasha, and silently wondered if he ever got sick from eating so fast, and so much in one sitting. Speaking of eating fast, Souta, ever the hero worshipper, was trying to mimic Inuyasha in his eating speed.

"Souta, don't eat so fast. You'll get a stomachache," scolded Mrs. Higurashi gently as she sat down to eat her dinner. Souta frowned. "How come Inuyasha gets to eat so fast? Won't he get a stomachache too?"

Instead of Mrs. Higurashi answering, Inuyasha stopped his frantic inhaling of noodles to answer Souta's question. "Nah, I won't get a stomachache because I'm half-demon, and hanyous never get sick like weak humans."

"Oh. Well that's not fair," said Souta. Inuyasha snorted, and returned to his noodles, only to find that they had vanished. Inuyasha looked around wildly. "Where did my ramen go?" he asked frantically. Kagome laughed silently to herself, and Mrs. Higurashi smiled at him and said, "Why Inuyasha, you ate them all."

He looked incredulously at her. "What? No! No, I had at least half a bowl left! Somebody in this room stole my ramen!" He immediately looked at Kagome with narrowed eyes, sparkling with suspicion. Kagome raised an eyebrow in question.

"It was you who stole my ramen, wasn't it Kagome? You're still mad at me because of what happened, and you stole my ramen, didn't you! Admit it! You did! Alright, give it back right now!"

This was too much for Kagome and her mother, who both burst into giggles. Inuyasha huffed, and crossed his arms with a small growl. And that was when it happened.

"DEMON BE GONE!"

Inuyasha was immediately covered head to foot in offudas(sp?). This just made him angrier, and he growled louder. Kagome and her mother, along with Souta, were now outright laughing at the poor hanyou's state. Ripping off the offudas, Inuyasha threw them at Kagome's slightly quirky grandfather, who was now crying over his ineffective wards.

"Your stupid spells don't work on me old man!" Inuyasha barked as he scowled at the man and then turned to the women who were still chuckling over his earlier predicament. "And I still want to know what happened to my ramen!"

Mrs. Higurashi rose from the table. "Jii-chan, sit down, your dinner's getting cold. Here Inuyasha, hand me your bowl, and I'll get you another serving, hmm?" Inuyasha eagerly handed her his bowl, and Grandpa warily eyed the grinning hanyou before gingerly sitting down.

Kagome just shook her head at both Inuyasha's and her Jii-chan's antics. Some things would just never change between the two. Mrs. Higurashi handed Inuyasha his bowl back, now brimming with ramen, and sat down to continue her own meal.

"So tell us Kagome, what have you and Inuyasha been up to lately? Anything exciting?"

Inuyasha promptly opened his mouth to reply, and Kagome, who knew exactly what Inuyasha considered exciting, quickly cut in before he scared her mother half to death.

"Oh, you know, just the usual things. Miroku exercised a rat demon for a tavern owner a couple of days ago, and the group and I stayed there for free. I helped Kaede with a child birthing from one of the women in her village. I've been teaching Shippou his multiplication tables, and he getting pretty good. And Sango and I found this lovely hot spring not to far from the village the other day. You know, the normal stuff."

Mrs. Higurashi nodded, and Inuyasha looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. She gave him a wide-eyed look, which was supposed to mean not to say one single word about anything. Inuyasha, against popular belief, was not as thickheaded as many people made him out to be, and he kept his mouth firmly closed.

"So tell me about Sango and Miroku. How is their relationship fairing? Have either of them told the other of their feelings yet?"

Inuyasha snorted. "They're just about as blind as a pair of bat demons. Even _I _can tell that it's obvious that they have feeling for each other, but Miroku won't stop being such a-" he was cut off when Kagome's foot viciously dug into his own bare one. He glared at her, ready to give her a piece of his mind, when he caught sight of the pleading, wide-eyed expression. Mrs. Higurashi looked up. "Being what Inuyasha," she asked confusedly. Inuyasha stole another quick glance at Kagome, and then looked back to Mrs. Higurashi.

"He, um, won't stop being an idiot and tell Sango that he likes her, and Sango's too shy to say anything to him."

Mrs. Higurashi looked at Inuyasha and Kagome with twinkling eyes. "Yes, it's just amazing how two people who obviously care deeply for one another can go about and never admit their love to the other, thinking that it won't be reciprocated."

Inuyasha just nodded, oblivious, and went back to his precious noodles. Kagome, also oblivious, shifted uncomfortably. She decided she hated thongs. But at least her mother had believed Inuyasha.

Kagome sighed quietly to herself. She knew Inuyasha was going to say pervert, and her mother would have quite a few questions about what exactly Miroku does for him to constitute as a pervert. Questions Kagome didn't even want to hear. Her mother was understanding and open-minded to a certain extent, more so than many mothers, but if she thought her seventeen year old daughter was traveling around with a perverted monk, she might be afraid that Miroku would try to _force_ her into doing something seventeen year old girls shouldn't be doing, which Kagome knew Miroku wasn't that kind of person, but her mother didn't, and it might could create problems, such as refusing to let Kagome return to the past.

"Oh, well I'm sure it will all work out," replied her mother. Kagome made a noise of agreement, and shifted uncomfortably on her chair. Noticing her discomfort, Inuyasha looked at her.

"How're your bruises? Do you need me to get some more of that salve Kaede made?" Inuyasha asked Kagome. Mrs. Higurashi immediately looked up from her dinner, as did Souta and Grandpa.

"What bruises is the demon talking about Kagome? You didn't get attacked by a demon did you?" asked her Jii-chan. Kagome noticed in her perpetual vision that Inuyasha winced slightly, apparently realizing that he shouldn't have said anything in front of Kagome's family. _Damn right you shouldn't have!_ Kagome thought fervently at the hanyou. She then commenced to mentally recite the word sit, over and over again. How was she going to get out of this one? Once again, Inuyasha came to her rescue after noticing her hesitation.

"Keh! She was stupid enough to slip on the rocks when she and Sango went down to the hot springs."

Kagome could have kissed him right then and there, but noticing where her thoughts had headed, she decided to just mentally thank Inuyasha, over and over again.

"Yeah Mom," Kagome cut in smoothly, "the rocks were wet, and I didn't notice the moss on them. I was running into the water when I slipped. You see, Sango and I were racing to be first in, but I slipped and really banged up my left side on all those big rocks, but Kaede gave me some healing salve, and it's almost completely healed."

Kagome was lying through her teeth, and she knew it. So did Inuyasha, who looked a little surprised that Kagome could be so convincing. Mrs. Higurashi then began a ten-minute lecture on why one should learn to watch where they are going, and how Kagome should have been much more careful when running around a hot spring. Kagome nodded, and agreed with her mother that she would learn to be more careful in the future, or well, past as the case should be. Dinner went smoothly after that.

"Why did you lie to you mother?"

Kagome sighed as she flopped onto her bed, wincing as the fall jarred her aching side. Inuyasha sat stood near the window, which he had entered through just moments ago. Kagome closed her eyes as she answered.

"If my mother ever found out about half the stunts we pull in the Sengoku Jidai, I would be locked in my room and forbidden to ever return to the past before I could even say 'just kidding!' Not to mention that she'd also forbid me to return if she found out about Miroku's perverted ways, and I would never mention Naraku around her if you ever wanted to see me again."

"So she doesn't know anything about what we do?" asked Inuyasha. Kagome absently nodded. She was getting sleepy, and this bed was just so comfortable.

"She knows that I broke a jewel, that gives great power to the demons wielding it, and that I'm the only one who can sense it, and I've made friends that are helping me find them so that innocent people can be protected from it's corruptible power. She just doesn't realize that the shards we find are usually imbedded in some ridiculously strong demon's hide, and how dangerous it is to get it out. I think she just thinks that we lift a rock, say 'Oi! I found another one over here!' and continue on our merry way until we find them all. She only lets me go because there are innocent people's lives at stake."

"She wouldn't let you return if she knew what was really going on?" asked Inuyasha worriedly. Hearing his worry, Kagome immediately reassured Inuyasha.

"Don't worry Inuyasha. I won't tell her, and you won't tell her, and I'll always come back."

"Keh! Who said I was worried?"

Kagome just smiled as she became more and more unaware of her surroundings. Meanwhile, Inuyasha's heart had suddenly sped up. _Did she just say that she'd always come back? To me? Or to everybody? Or just until the jewel's complete?_ Inuyasha just shook his head to clear away his troubling thoughts.

"When did you learn to lie so good anyhow?" Inuyasha asked rudely, trying to get his mind away from his confusing emotions. His answer came in the form of a soft snore from Kagome. Inuyasha sighed, and covered the sleeping girl with her blanket. He left through the window, resolving to come back tomorrow with some more of Kaede's special salve.

A/N: Well, that's the first chapter. Drop me a line and tell me what you think! Anything's welcome!


	2. Open Mouth, Insert Foot

A/N: Well. Two whole reviews. I just don't know what to say. By the way, thanks to those who actually _did _review! Shorter chapter than last, but I just wanted to stop where I did. AND please remember to review!!!!!

Disclaimer: I disclaim. Simple, neh?

_**Silent Scream**_

_**Open Mouth, Insert Foot**_

Kagome jumped into the well, enjoying the brief feeling of falling and the shining lights as she was gently placed on the well's dirt floor, five hundred years into the past.

There were two things that Kagome loved in the past besides her friends, and one of them was the night sky. There was nothing more enjoyable that gazing up at so many stars peppering the black night that you had never even realized were there before. And the other was the air. Kagome was born and raised in Tokyo, and if there's ever a thing that she couldn't have experienced in Tokyo, it was crisp, clean air. The air in Sengoku Jedai was bereft of pollution, and it just made Kagome feel good all over when she breathed it in. And that's exactly what she did as she hefted herself over the well's wall.

"Oh wow. Look at the stars," she whispered breathlessly to herself. Yes, she really did love the stars. Kagome looked around for Inuyasha, but didn't see him. She was usually pounced upon by him whenever she came back through the well. She waited a few moments, straining her eyes for any sound that would indicate his arrival.

She sighed when she realized he wasn't anywhere near. Kagome was slightly disappointed that the half dog demon wasn't there to greet her, or help her manage her large, yellow backpack for that matter. Inuyasha had always met her at the well. Why would this time be any different? Kagome's over active imagination began to act up as she made her way to Kaede's village, a good fifteen minute walk from the well.

_What if something happened to him or one of the others? What if the village was under attack by a demon? Wait, I could probably hear the villager's screams if it was. Maybe I'm just overreacting. But, what if Inuyasha was with Kikyou?_

This last thought made Kagome falter in her steps. What _if _Inuyasha was with Kikyou? A sharp pain stabbed at her heart briefly, before anger seeped into her mind, only to swiftly be replaced by a great lingering sorrow deep within her soul.

Kagome shook her head sharply to clear her clouded head. _Don't be silly Kagome. What are the chances anyway?_ But no matter how much Kagome told herself that she was being stupid, she couldn't stop the nasty little voice from the more farther corners of her mind from whispering that she most certainly wasn't that stupid, and that the hanyou she loved couldn't possible feel the same way about the copy when he had the original, though slightly decayed around the edges, right in front of him.

Kagome sighed dejectedly.

Suddenly, a twig cracked, and broke. Kagome stopped, her pulse quickening, and stood very still. She strained her ears, hoping to hear what could have made that noise. Praying that it was only a fox, Kagome opened her eyes wide, and tried to make out the different shapes lurking in the shadows of the forest. Unfortunately, since it was dark, and the moon's light couldn't penetrate the forest's thick canopy, she couldn't see very well, so she listened for the sound to come again. She heard the crickets singing to each other, and she heard the wind rustle the leaves of the trees surrounding her, but she didn't hear any movement. But still, she waited a few minutes more.

Deciding it was just that imagination of hers again, Kagome relaxed. Heaving a sigh of relief, Kagome adjusted her backpack to a more comfortable position, and continued down the well-worn forest trail to Kaede's village, oblivious to the calculating gaze that followed her.

Kagome entered the village, and immediately saw most of the villagers crowding around something in the village square. The moon was bright enough to make out the frightened and sorrowful faces of the villagers, and hear the cries of others. Everyone was conversing loudly, and Kagome caught bits and snags of the conversations as she maneuvered closer to what everyone had crowded around, looking for either her friends or Kaede.

"-yes, she was found by th-"

"-barely sixteen winters-"

"-rents are devastated-"

"-blood everywhe-"

"-murdered-"

Finally she saw Miroku, standing next to Inuyasha, who was conversing softly with the monk. Kaede was kneeling next to a young girl's body, obviously in prayer. Kagome guessed she was praying for the girl's soul. An elder woman was sobbing loudly into a man's chest, who wore a grim expression. Kagome recoiled slightly when she recognized the girl. She had been the girl Kagome had seen carrying water to the village from the river every so often, and she had briefly spoken to her once. Kagome's nose flared at the smell of blood. The girl, for Kagome could not remember her name, was positively soaked in her own blood.

Kagome moved next to Inuyasha. "Hey, what happened?"

Inuyasha started when he heard her voice, and turned around to look at her. "When the hell did you get here?"

Kagome blinked. "I just got here. Didn't you smell me?"

Inuyasha shook his head. "The smell of blood is clogging up my nose, I can't smell a damn thing like I used to with all of this blood everywhere messing with my smell. Somebody really screwed this girl up, but I am definitely sure I don't smell demon on her, that smell I'd recognize, so it had to be a human that did this." Inuyasha eyes suddenly widened, and he scowled deeply at her.

"What?" asked Kagome confusedly.

"What were you doing in the woods by yourself! Gods Kagome! There's a murderer hiding out there, just waiting for his next victim! I don't need you walking right into his hands, wench!"

The unfairness of this statement made Kagome angry. "And how was I supposed to know that there's some insane psycho path out there in the woods! I just got here!" she whispered heatedly at Inuyasha, mindful of the grieving family of the dead girl just two yards away.

"Keh! You shouldn't have been in there, wench! A weakling like you wouldn't even stand a chance against an armed human! You can't even control your miko powers!" Inuyasha whispered just as heatedly back.

"Unlike that walking clay pot, Kikyou?" Kagome asked harshly.

"At least Kikyou was actually good at something besides finding jewel shards! She knew how to fight, _and_ she had full control over her powers! You won't ever be half as good as Kikyou! You're just a shard detector!"

Kagome gasped softly. Inuyasha just crossed his arms and glared. He was obviously expecting her to come back at him twice as hard, but what happened next wasn't anything that he expected.

Kagome's eyes watered, her harsh expression of before was replaced by a look of hurt and betrayal. What Inuyasha had just said had just confirmed Kagome's fears. Inuyasha didn't see her as Kagome. He saw her as a second rate copy of the dead priestess and his former lover. He didn't care about her. He only saw her as a means to collect his precious jewel shards for him. Her heart shattered, and the dam on her emotions broke. That was when it happened.

_**SLAP!**_

A wide-eyed Inuyasha held his red cheek, ears flat against his head. He was stunned that Kagome had just struck him.

"You utter bastard," Kagome whispered, tears falling from her eyes. It was then that Inuyasha realized exactly what he had just said. Kagome fled to Kaede's hut, dodging around the crowd as she went.

Miroku, who had watched all of this silently, now approached Inuyasha, who was still dazedly looking after Kagome's fleeing form.

"I hope you realized what you have just done, Inuyasha. I don't think that she is going to forgive you for this one," said Miroku quietly. Kaede, who had also seen what had happened, approached the two.

"Ye are not going to win Kagome's favor anytime within the near future, Inuyasha. I suggest ye apologize quickly if ye want to salvage what remains of the young woman's trust," said Kaede as she went back to the deceased's family members.

"Oh Gods," Inuyasha whispered, "What have I done?"

"You've just broken her heart," said Miroku. He, too, left. And Inuyasha ran to the forest, afraid that if he stayed, someone would see the tears slowly falling down his face.

A/N: Yep! There ya go! I hope that was a bit more action than last time! I had SOOO much fun writing this chapter!

>>>>>>>>Review Please! 


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